Power pump
Also called power pumping, power pumps, power pumped, cluster pumping
Power pumping is a pumping session split into short rounds of pumping and rest, meant to copy a baby who is cluster feeding. It's also called cluster pumping, and people turn to it to raise their milk supply.
How it's said
Feeling so down about my supply and wondering if power pumping can actually work
Power pumping is said to mimic cluster feeding so it should lead to a quicker increase in supply than regular pumping.
Having read more and pumped more often (including power pumps), I have managed to get my supply up to 400ml max a day.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- Cluster feeding is a baby feeding often over a few hours. Power pumping is a parent copying that pattern with a pump, which is why it's also called cluster pumping.
Where it came from
The idea comes from cluster feeding. The Lactation Network describes power pumping, also called cluster pumping, as mimicking the shorter, more frequent feeds of a cluster-feeding baby.
Lactation consultants and pumping blogs use the name, and researchers have picked it up too. A 2024 pilot trial in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics compared power pumping with routine pumping in mothers of very low birth weight babies.